Flight of the Phoenix
by LillyWright
Summary: Two of the most powerfull dark wizards ever go to York for a dual. However, little do they know that something unexpected is going to happen. Please RR!


'**Flight of the Phoenix'**

In the early days of the sixth century, in the village of York, a terrible event had passed. From that moment on people have been telling the story from mouth to mouth with tears in their eyes. Because where now their Minster was built, once an innocent girl had been killed. And so goes this legend back for many centuries, to be rewritten and passed on years later and still take a place in people's hearts. Therefore, you might read this legend, to be shocked and charmed, sad and joyful.

It was dark in the ancient streets of York. There was no sound at all, not even a small breeze from the wind. Still someone was there, moving silently, covered in a cloak. The figure glided past houses and alleys towards the large and open marketplace. On the street still lay some of the unsold vegetables and fruits. It smelled of animals which had stood there this day. The apparition came to halt in the middle of the square. It started to drizzle, a few minutes later rain came pouring down from heaven like never before. Still the unknown individual stood there and didn't move the slightest. Water dripped down along the lines of his cloaked figure and fell on the ground. Suddenly there was the sound of a swish of a cloak. Out of the shadows from the houses came another cloaked figure. At once the hand of the still unnerved person shot into his pocket. Out of it he got a thin, long piece of wood. 'Scared, Cassandra? Taking out your wand so quickly?' a man's voice said from under the cloak. The man walked to the cloaked figure named Cassandra and stopped only inches away from her. Than she hissed in a cold, but beautiful voice: 'Never.' She held her wand in front of her as if it was a sword. The man started to laugh, however, it didn't sound inviting. It was a cold horrifying sound. 'If you're as brave as you say than take off your cloak. And let me see your face, while we are duelling.' Cassandra smiled under her cloak. 'I will take it off, but only when I'm seconds away from my death. What about you, Percival? Scared, that your pretty face is going to be damaged by the rain?' As an answer, he brought his hands up to the side of his face and took away the cloak. Cassandra let out a small shriek. 'I know, I have looked better,' Percival said, with an evil grin on his face. He was totally bald and his skin was white. His eyes were gleaming red and catlike slits. His nose was flat and looked like that of a snake. Cassandra quickly recovered from shock and replied: 'See your best looks have left you. After all being immortal means that you have to give up something, doesn't it?' 'Enough talking, we were here to duel, not to have a nice little chat!' he replied. Out of his pocket he also drew his wand, which he held with his long and thin fingers. His hand looked like a white spider, holding its prey. 'Shall we do it in a proper way?' he asked, looking at her with loath. Cassandra nodded and bowed to him. He bowed back. They both held their wand in front of their face, and then they turned around and walked ten steps away. After that they turned to face each other once more and held their wands ready to attack. 'On the count of five,' he said quietly, 'One, two, three, four…Incarcerous!' Cassandra, who wasn't expecting it, got hit by the curse and was at once bounded with ropes. However, she disappeared in thin air to reappear a few feet further. 'Incendio!' she shouted, and fire shot out of her wand, but Percival shouted something else and blocked it. _Levicorpus_ Cassandra said in her mind, this was to dangle Percival by his ankle in mid-air. Nevertheless he again knew how to block this jinx too. 'Is this all you can? I know you can do better Cassandra!' Percival yelled, 'Crucio!' Cassandra reacted too late and felt a severe pain everywhere in her body. She screamed with agony and hoped that death would come soon. Conversely, the pain stopped and Cassandra lay panting on the cold and dirty ground. She looked up at Percival, who had drawn his wand away from her to lift the curse and grinned evil. 'That is your only weak point, you can't handle pain my dear,' he said softly. Cassandra on the other hand, wasn't listening to him at all. On the other side of the square, behind Percival, she had seen something. There on the edge of the square stood some wooden crates and behind them she had seen something or someone move. And seconds later the head of an eight year old girl peered over the crates to see what was happening. Cassandra took a sharp breath in, this girl was her daughter. Percival noticed that she wasn't really looking at him, but at something behind him. He turned around so fast that the girl couldn't hide quickly enough. He turned back to look at Cassandra and knew what she didn't want him to know. Percival started to walk towards the crates where Cassandra's daughter was hiding. 'Impedimenta!' Cassandra cried. Percival was thrown backwards and his wand flew out of his hand. However, he couldn't retrieve it due to the curse. Cassandra ran past him to her daughter and hugged her. The curse began to ware off. Percival crawled slowly towards his wand. 'Expelliarmus,' he screeched, once he had hold of his wand again. However, he didn't aim to well, so the spell hit the girl. She was blasted against a wall and fell limp back on the ground. 'Gabrielle!' Cassandra cried. Then she turned around to face Percival. He didn't look bothered that he had hit a child, which made her even angrier. She dropped her wand and heaved her hands towards her cloak. Slowly she removed it. Now she was face to face with Percival. Her face was beautiful, with her hair hanging down to her waist. Her hair was silver coloured and shown brightly. Her eyes were big and blue. Percival looked astonished at her. 'Accio wand,' Cassandra said quietly, and her wand flew back into her hand. Percival still looked as if he was petrified. 'Crucio,' she now said with a cold voice. At once Percival seemed to come alive again, he twisted with pain and shouted just like her earlier with agony. Than, behind her she heard a weak voice. 'Mom.' Cassandra looked to see if her daughter was all right, but she didn't look at her wand anymore. Her hand shook out of position and the curse was lifted. She noticed it too late that the screams had stopped. Turning around again she already shouted 'Incarcerous' in the hope to hit Percival. Luckily she hit him and he got bounded by ropes. Nonetheless, he did the same what she had done earlier also and disappeared in thin air. 'He is gone now Mommy isn't he?' Gabrielle asked her mother. Cassandra wasn't as relieved as her daughter though, she was actually rather frightened. 'Gabrielle, stay here,' she said, with a high pitched voice. But it was too late. Suddenly Gabrielle's eyes turned away and a cold voice spoke from her. 'Cassandra if you want to kill me, than do it now.' Cassandra didn't know what to do anymore. If she killed him now, she also murdered her own daughter. However, her own daughter now experienced pain like never before and it would be unfair to let her life on like this. Cassandra grabbed all the courage together that she had and held her wand steady. 'Avada Kedavra!' she cried, while tears streamed over her cheeks. Percival had clearly not counted on this and screamed. Next second it was totally silent again. Then a miracle took place. Gabrielle's dead body began to shine so brightly that Cassandra had to close her eyes. When it stopped she looked up. There sitting on Percival's dead body, was a beautiful red and gold coloured phoenix. It sang a beautiful lament and after five minutes it flew away into the world to be free. Cassandra had been standing in the middle of the square all the time and knew her daughter was save. Finally she turned around to face the rising sun and walked away towards her destiny.

Only years later, people started to build the York Minster as a reminder of this horrible happening, which at the same time brought so much peace. It is a symbol for us to remind us that there should always be hope and that you're never alone. '_Everything happens with a reason, and that's what destiny is._'

3

Lysanne van Bennekom, tv3a, 2 april 2006 


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